SMCC preps for alternative energy future
Photo/Rebecca Goldfine
Director John Brautigam stands in front of SMCC's new Sustainability and Energy Alternatives Center
Photo/Rebecca Goldfine
The center includes a simulation house to teach students about weatherization
Starting in the fall, students at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland will be able to study energy efficiency at the school's new sustainability facility.
The Sustainability and Energy Alternatives Center will offer classes to both matriculated students and community members, according to Director John Brautigam, appealing to "someone who wants to be an energy auditor or someone who wants to weatherize homes, or building managers who want to be energy specialists."
In conjunction with the center, SMCC is launching a new one-year academic program in building science and sustainability. The school has hired a faculty person with a Ph.D. in sustainability and developed four classes: energy auditing and building science, residential weatherization, an expanded renewable energy course and an introductory freshmen course on sustainability, according to Kaylene Waindle, SMCC's dean of advancement.
Of all states, Maine is the most dependent on home heating oil -- roughly three out of four households use oil, making homeowners vulnerable to unstable prices and market fluctuations. And a slew of state and federal incentives for energy retrofits have helped boost demand for energy audits and weatherization services.
Waindle says the program in particular will help students who are planning a career in construction. "We have some of the largest and oldest trade programs, and our goal was to produce graduates who are mindful of sustainability and more competitive in the work market because they have these additional skills," she says. "To be a contractor who is also a certified energy auditor is an asset."
SMCC received a $375,000 grant from Efficiency Maine as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create its new center in a renovated building on its South Portland campus. In the future, the center will be funded by tuition and other grants, according to Brautigam.
The center also received a MaineHousing grant worth roughly $100,000 for a simulated house -- or really, a slice of a house -- inside the center that includes kitchen appliances, a chimney, bathroom and dryer. The simulated home is designed to teach students how to seal a house without compromising its quality, Brautigam says.
The center reflects SMCC's push, like so many other school campuses, to become green.
"The center is an opportunity for us to educate students and our own workers," Waindle says, "so we can improve the college's mission and its carbon footprint as well as reduce costs and build a better work environment."
The college has both solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems on campus and is installing a campus-wide metering system to track buildings' energy and water usage. Maine's other community colleges are also pursuing alternative energy agendas. Northern Maine Community College began offering an associate degree in wind power technology two years ago and Kennebec Valley Community College has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy as one of nine regional centers to provide instructor training in solar system design, installation, sales and inspection. Its first training session was last February.
The Sustainability Center at SMCC will begin offering classes this fall semester and celebrate a grand opening after the school year begins, according to Waindle. Going forward, Brautigam says he'd like to see the center expand its reach, training students for a very different energy future.
"We want to get into more advanced renewable energy and expand into wind, tidal, solar, biomass and wood pellets," he says.
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